21 February 2013

We took a half-day trip out to see the giant Redwoods at Muir Woods, about 45 minutes outside the city. It was a gray, damp day, but we were amazed by the huge trees in these woods. Our informative (and poetic) tour bus driver said these 800 to 1200 year old trees were smaller than the giants about 5 hours farther north, some of which are upwards of 2000 years old. One area called Cathedral Grove is meant to encourage silent contemplation--signs beckoned, "Enter Quietly"--but you might be surprised at just how important many people felt their banal conversations were despite such. On the way back we passed through the charming town of Sausalito and got to stop for photos near the Golden Gate Bridge, which we ended up going over several times during our stay in San Fransisco. As we were walking back towards the visitors center, I told Ryan we just had to get out and do more things like this. Totally worth the expense. Just need our little bubby with us next time...

10 February 2013

Sadly, they didn't win the Super Bowl, but the Niners sure were fun to watch this season. Ryan had always dreamed of seeing his beloved team play at Candlestick, so we went to San Fransisco over Christmas break to see them there before they move to their new stadium in Santa Clara. We rode on a stadium express city bus packed with Niners fans to get there--I thought Ryan was going to cry. He's loved the 49ers since he was 11 years old. Finally among his people...

We had tickets to a VIP tailgate party before and got to our seats (leather box seats, front row, corner of end zone!) to watch warmups. There's Colin. Ryan's allegiance (and I suppose mine) is to #11 Alex Smith, but Kaep is a dynamic quarterback, and I love his story. And the fact that he has a 100 pound pet tortoise. Adorable.

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Kickoff Team dances

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Andy Lee

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Frank Gore behind CK

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Moss

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in his happy place

Alex is in!

Alex Smith got to run a few plays toward the end of the game. The crowd chanted, "Let's go, Alex!" Which was nice, since he kind of got the shaft this season by being replaced by CK for no other reason than having a concussion.

Final Score: SF 27 AZ 13

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two of our faves, Moss and Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals

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Niners win!

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Future Kansas City Chief???

A fine day at the ballpark...and another check on Ryan's bucket list...Later that evening as we were walking into a Walgreen's near our hotel, still in our game gear, Ryan stopped to ask a homeless man crouched out front what we could get him from the store. He was surprised at first, but listed a few things including grape juice, potato chips and something else I didn't catch. Ryan told him we'd get the juice and chips. Inside the store, we gathered those and Ryan said the other thing the man had wanted was a tuna fish sandwich so we got one of those, too. When Ryan handed the man all three, he happily shouted with a pump of his fist, "You GOT the SANDwich!" As we walked away from him, the man called after us, "God bless and go Niners!" Indeed.